With cuts more likely to come in the fall.
Less than a year ago, Alberta was still complaining of a labour shortage. Schools couldn’t find bus drivers, job vacancy rates were the highest in the country.
It’s no secret that the situation has changed.
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers says that 35,000 oilpatch jobs have been cut this year, 25,000 from the oil services sector and 10,000 from exploration and production. CAPP pulled the number together by canvassing its members, reviewing Statistics Canada numbers and working with the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors.
I have CEOs that have pulled free pop out of the office, because they can save $40,000 across the company and that’s half a job.”– Tim McMillan, CAPP
“This is tough, they’ve been struggling to get a workforce, that was always the challenge,” said Tim McMillan, chief executive of CAPP.
“Today they are laying off people that they view as very valuable. I have CEOs that have pulled pop, free pop out of the office, because they can save $40,000 across the company and that’s half a job.”
Meanwhile, other industries are picking up some of the slack. The monthly labour force survey shows that Alberta’s job growth has been largely flat this year, jobs that have been lost in the natural resource sector seem to have been created elsewhere.
- Alberta’s job market holding up, despite oil bust
- Got jobs? Not a lot of work to be had in the oilpatch
“There are definitely a lot of people from the oilpatch looking right now,”– Murray Glass, Southland Transportation
School bus company inundated with applications
After years of struggling to find drivers, Southland Transportation, which provides school buses to Calgary schools, has been inundated with applications this year, including some from engineers and geologists.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
